The Latest: NY Legislature passes tougher gun control bills

January 29, 2019 - 1:48 PM

ALBANY, N.Y. - The Latest on the New York Legislature's passage of tougher gun laws (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

The Democrat-controlled New York Legislature has passed a series of gun control measures, including one that would prohibit teachers and other school employees from carrying firearms on school grounds.

The legislation that easily passed the Assembly and Senate on Tuesday also includes a measure that authorizes the removal of guns from the home of a person who has been deemed a risk to themselves or to others. Under the "red flag" bill, a court could determine if firearms should be taken away from someone considered dangerous or mentally ill.

Other approved legislation included a bill to extend the waiting period from three days to 30 days after an inconclusive background check before a gun can be purchased.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo supports the measures and is expected to sign them into law.

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11:55 a.m.

The parents of one of the victims of the mass shooting at a Florida high school last year have joined Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in hailing the expected passage of tougher gun laws by the Democrat-controlled New York Legislature.

Linda Beigel Schulman and Michael Schulman and other gun control advocates participated in a state capitol news conference ahead of the pending passage of a series of bills by the Assembly and Senate.

The Long Island couple lost their 35-year-old son in the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Scott Beigel, a geography teacher and cross country coach, was among the 17 killed, including 14 students.

At least eight measures are expected to pass the Assembly and Senate on Tuesday, including legislation to ban bump stocks and prohibit districts from allowing school employees to carry guns in schools.

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This story has been corrected to show that the shooting victim's last name is Beigel, not Schulman.

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5:50 a.m.

The Democrat-controlled New York Legislature is set to pass several bills aimed at making the state's already tough gun laws even stricter.

At least eight measures are expected to pass the Assembly and Senate on Tuesday, including legislation to ban bump stocks and prohibit districts from allowing school employees to carry guns in schools.

Lawmakers passed Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's SAFE Act in 2013, when Republicans controlled the Senate. The tougher gun laws passed just weeks after the mass shooting at the Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school. Those laws include one banning certain semi-automatic weapons.

With Democrats now in control of the Senate as well as the Assembly, another round of gun-control legislation is expected to easily pass in Albany.